Children first fear death, and only later learn to use culture against that fear

Evidence

The results of this study showed that the seven-year-olds had not yet transferred their psychological eggs to their cultural basket. After being asked about death, the younger children reacted more negatively to pictures of both Israeli and Russian children. They were afraid of death, but they had not yet deployed their culture to manage their fear. … It was a different story for the eleven-year-olds, however. After being asked about death, these older children were more eager to befriend fellow Israeli children and rejected the idea of befriending the Russians. In short, the eleven-year-olds reacted to reminders of their mortality in the same way that adults do. Having realized that death is inevitable and irreversible, they pledged permanent psychological allegiance to their culture. — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 152

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the developmental/terror-management work pattern found throughout this book’s first chapters on immortality striving. — connects to: 1950s Catholic bedtime prayers and doctrine instilled death anxiety in children — Dolores DeLuce, Blow Jobs: A Guide to Making It in Show…, 71
• QUESTION: What precisely tips at age eleven — the realization that death is irreversible, or the social maturity to pledge group allegiance? The author notes both together.

Related

• Children fear death more than parents realize they do (similarity 0.81)
• Death reminders increase people’s desire to have children (similarity 0.79)